Memphis in Egypt

Memphis, the first capital of unified Egypt was founded according to Classical sources, by King Menes around 2990 BC. The city was named IIneb-hedj, the “White Walls.”

Memphis was built in a crucial location at or near the head of the Nile delta, 20km south of the centre of modern Cairo. It not only commanded the river approaches from the valley to the delta and the Mediterranean, but also formed the hub of numerous cross-desert routes from the Saharan oases to the Red Sea.

Memphis was a city of the dead as much as of the living. “The most favored of Egyptian cities in its position,” “the oldest and the most royal of cities,” it had been “the royal citadel” for much of its past. And, as the residence of Pharaoh, Memphis served as a regular army base.

Since the Early Dynastic period, Memphis was believed to be the home of the kings, the centre of state administration and sacred to the gods.

In the 14th century AD the Arabic name for the town, Manf, disappears from the sources. During the 15th – 16th centuries, travelers debated the location of the ancient city. Finally, in 1799, the Napoleonic expedition identified the ruins of Mit Rahina with ancient Memphis.
Memphis in Egypt